


Magnificence

by Tall_Tales



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Thor (Movies)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-12-06
Updated: 2013-12-06
Packaged: 2018-01-03 15:12:27
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 4,230
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1071943
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tall_Tales/pseuds/Tall_Tales





	1. Childhood

“Come on, Hela! Keep up!” Fenrir shouted over his shoulder as his younger sister rounded the corner.

“Oh, slow down! You’ve got four legs and I’ve only got two!” She shouted and Fenrir groaned.

“Vali and Narvi are on our tails!”

“You’re the only one with a tail!” Fenrir stopped and looked around, his ears straight up and alert as Hela caught up to him. She leaned against him, breathing heavily. Somewhere nearby, they heard two boys shouting.

“I think they went this way!”

“We’ll catch them.” Fenrir looked down at his sister and saw the fear in her eyes.

“They won’t catch us. Don’t worry.”

“Where’s father?” She cried and he pressed his head against hers.

“You go find him. I’ll handle Vali and Narvi.” She nodded and he raced back down the hallway and out of sight. Hela kept running through the palace hoping to find her father. Her bare feet slapped on the cold stone floor and her long dark hair bounced against her back. She looked over her shoulder as she ran, hoping her half-brothers hadn’t caught up yet when she crashed into something much stronger than her and landed on the floor.

She looked up and saw Narvi leering down at her. He was bigger than her, tall and muscular with their father’s dark hair and his mother’s controlling ways. “Narvi, please!” She tried to get up but he knocked her to the floor and held her down.

“You little freak.” He hissed. “You don’t belong here. You don’t belong with the Frost Giants. You belong in Helheim with the other monsters. You and your freak brothers should be killed as far as I care.” He raised his fist to hit her but she pulled her knee up and hit him between the legs. He grunted violently and she raced off through the palace as fast as she could go. “You can run, freak! But I’ll catch you!” She heard him shouting, his voice fading in the distance.

She whipped around a corner and saw her father walking with her uncle. He looked up and saw her running to him, tears streaming down her face. Loki knelt and placed a steady hand on her shoulder while Thor wrapped a strong arm around her.

“Shh, it’s alright now. I’m here. What’s going on?” He whispered soothingly and she looked up at him through the tears streaming down her cheeks.

“Fenrir and I were playing in the garden and then Vali and Narvi came and they chased us and we ran and Fenrir went back to stop them and I ran away but Narvi caught me and I hit him and he’s still chasing me and he called us freaks and I don’t know where Fenrir is and-”

“Shh, shh, it’s okay. Calm down. I’ll take care of Vali and Narvi, alright?” She nodded, wiped the tears from her cheeks. “Thor can you take Hela with you since you’re going to see Sif and Thrud. I need to go sort out my sons.”

“Of course.” Thor said and he took her hand as he gently led her away.

Thrud and Hela were the only two children who seemed capable of making friends with children that weren’t their brothers. Thor and Loki’s other children had long since united with their closest siblings against the others. Narvi and Vali hated all the other children especially Hela and Fenrir. Modi and Magni, Thor’s sons, hated all of Loki’s children and tolerated Hela for their sister’s sake. Fenrir started hating his half-brothers the day they started attacking Hela and he’d never liked Modi or Magni. Thor and Loki held out hope that their children would reconcile as they did but it seemed unlikely.

Thor entered the nursery and placed Hela on the floor beside Thrud before kissing Sif’s cheek. She smiled as he sat down beside her and they watched the two girls playing with Thrud’s toys. Loki walked in a few minutes later looking exhausted.

“Hela, come here.” He said kneeling down so he could look her in the eye.

“What’s wrong?” She asked quietly.

“Your brothers are fine. I managed to get there before anyone got hurt but Vali and Narvi say that Fenrir attacked them first. Is that true?”

“No. They’re lying so they won’t get in trouble.” Loki shook his head. “I don’t think they are. I understand if you want to protect Fenrir but don’t lie to me.” “I’m not lying! They are!” She cried out.

“Hela,” Loki warned, “don’t start this. I know Fenrir attacked them first.”

“You never listen to us!” She shouted. “You always side with Narvi and Vali!”

“That’s not true.” Loki said calmly.

“Yes, it is! They attack us because we’re different! They call us freaks and you always side with them!”

“Hela, be quiet.” Loki warned as he saw her getting steadily angrier. “No!” “Hela, go to your room!” Loki shouted suddenly and he saw a single tear run down Hela’s cheek.

“I hate you! I wish mother was here instead of you!” She shouted before racing out of the room and down the hall toward her own bedroom. Loki stepped into the hall but didn’t follow her. He sighed heavily and ran a hand through his hair.

“Brother, was that necessary?” Thor asked placing a hand on Loki’s shoulder.

“I don’t know what I’m going to do with them. They’re going to cause trouble just like Jormungand.”

“We cast Jormungand down to Midgard. What shall we do with Hela and Fenrir then?”

“I do not know.” Loki said softly. “But we shall have to do something about them.”


	2. Friendship

After dinner, which Fenrir and Hela had not attended, Loki went to Hela’s room assuming they’d be there together.

“Hela!  Hela open the door!”  He called, knocking on Hela’s door.  “Hela, we need to talk.”  She didn’t answer, she didn’t even yell at him.  Fenrir, open the door.”  He didn’t hear the growl Fenrir usually issued when given an order.  “Hela, I’m coming in.”  He opened the door and found his daughter’s room empty and her window open.  Loki sighed heavily and headed for the gardens.

Fenrir, Hela, and Jormungand were born of his mistress, a giantess called Angrboda.  Jormungand, the oldest, was a giant serpent that had been cast down to Midgard when Thor found out he would one day die at the serpent’s fangs.  Fenrir was a giant wolf and the middle child, fiercely loyal to his sister and no one else.  Hela, the youngest,  was much like the other Asgardian children in that she had the same form but her skin and hair were split down the middle, one half of her body was white and the other half was black. 

Loki’s other children were his two sons by his wife, Vali and Narvi, his son by Svadilfari, Sleipnir, and his two daughters by Glut, Eisa and Einmyria.  Eisa and Einmyria chose long ago to live with their mother in Midgard and he hadn’t seen them since their birth.  Sleipnir lived in Asgard but, as an eight legged horse, Loki rarely saw him and doubted whether Sleipnir could even comprehend his own lineage. 

Vali and Narvi were different.

Loki held a strong indifference to most of his other children but doted on Vali and Narvi.  They were his princes, his heirs.  Sigyn was enormously proud of them and encouraged them to be warriors.

Sigyn…

She crossed his mind and he smiled.

He loved her.  There could never be any doubt of that but she loved him more than he could ever love her.  She was a loyal woman, beautiful and intelligent, but loyal above all else.  And where he held a soft spot in his heart for Hela and Fenrir, she hated them.

She would never say it but she hated him for lying with their mother and creating them.  She could never hate him, her husband, but she could hate his bastard children all she wanted.

And she did.

 

Loki stood on the back steps of the palace and looked out over the gardens.  The stone paths wove into the orderly rows of vegetables separated by low hedges which eventually turned into beautiful flowers and trees and things that he knew didn’t exist in Midgard.  The small orderly hedges were soon overtaken by tall trees and bearing fruits shaped like dragons and stars. 

Just through a break in the trees, he could see the lake.  It’s glassy surface reflecting thousands of stars in perfect stillness.  A soft breeze lifted the branches on the trees and tickled the petals of the flowers and pushed a small ripple across its surface disrupting, if only for a moment, perfect harmony.

Loki walked silently toward the lake knowing, as he always did, that his children would be there.

He stepped onto the beach beside the lake and saw a large lump in the sand that could only be Fenrir and Hela.  He began to approach but thought better of it and turned invisible before they saw him.  He heard them talking as he came closer.

Fenrir lay on his stomach with his four huge paws tucked around him and Hela sat in the sand, leaning against him.

“I know.  But we’re not right for this place.”  Fenrir was saying.

“Or this place isn’t right for us…”  Hela replied.

“Exactly, we should just go.”

“Heimdall would never let us pass.”

“We can stay is Asgard.  It’s a big place.”

“It’s not big enough to hide a giant wolf and a half-dead girl.”  Hela said bitterly.  “Maybe they’re right, Fenrir.  Maybe we are freaks.”

“Don’t say that.  Don’t ever say that.”  He snapped sharply.  “We are the children of Loki Odinson, prince of Asgard.  Even if we have no inheritance to speak of, we are his children and we are not freaks.”

“Believe what you want.”  Hela said.

“You’re growing up too fast.”  Fenrir said as the thought crossed Loki’s mind.

“They’re going to send us away.”  She said.  “They took us from mother and they’ll separate us soon.  They think we’re a threat just like Jormungand.”

“I know.”

“I don’t want to go, Fenrir.”

“When the time comes, it won’t be up to us.”

“I don’t want to leave you.”

“I don’t want to leave you either, Hela.”  They were silent for a moment and Loki felt his stomach tighten angrily.  He knew what he had to do.  Maybe not today or tomorrow but someday, these two children would be children no more and he would have to act.

“Fenrir?”

“Yes?”

“Does father love us?”

“Of course.”  Fenrir said instantly but doubt hung in the air like a fog.

“You don’t believe that.”

“No… I don’t.”

“Then why say it?”

“I hoped you’d believe it and maybe you believing it would make it true and then I’d believe it.”

“I think he loved us once.”

“Once.  When I was a pup and you were a baby and Jormungand could curl around his little finger.  That was when he loved us.”

“You were cute as a baby…”  Hela said.  “What happened?”  Fenrir laughed and Hela smiled softly.

“We should go back.  If father finds you out of bed…”

“What about you?”  Hela asked as she got to her feet.

“Father doesn’t worry about me, I can handle myself.”

“So can I.”  Hela snapped and Fenrir shook his great shaggy head.

“You’re too little.”

“You don’t need size or strength to win.”  Hela said.  “You just have to have a few tricks up your sleeve.”

“Did father tell you that?”  Fenrir asked as they started walking.

“No,” she said, “you did.”  They disappeared into the trees and Loki felt a horrible twinge of guilt that started in his stomach and grew rapidly until it was choking him and he felt sick.

He became visible again and took a deep breath.  He had to do it.  They had to go.  And it had to be soon.


	3. Death

Loki knocked at his brother’s bedroom door.

“Thor!  Thor, I need to speak to you.”  Thor pulled the door open and slammed it behind him as he stepped into the hall.

“I was hoping you’d come.”  He said.  “A new prophesy was foretold barely a few minutes ago.”

“What’s wrong?”  Thor placed a gentle hand on his brother’s shoulder.

“I don’t know how to tell you this gently.  It has been foretold that Fenrir and Hela will bring chaos down on Asgard if they are allowed to stay here.  They must be cast out.”

“Brother, I love my children but I realized not long ago that they are not fit for Asgard.  I came to ask that they be cast out.”

“So, you’re not upset?”  Thor asked suspiciously.

“No, they do not belong here.  They’ll be happier elsewhere and I only wish for their happiness.”

“Good, fetch them immediately.  Bring them to the Bifrost and Heimdall and I will cast them down.  I’ll meet you there.”  Loki nodded and sped down the hall toward Hela’s room.

Fenrir would obey any order he gave if Hela was in danger.

                                                                                                           

Fenrir and Hela slept curled together on Hela’s bed.  Loki stepped closer and saw that Hela had her face pressed into Fenrir’s side and wore a simple white nightgown.  Fenrir rested his great head on his paws and snored softly beside his sister.

Quietly, Loki stepped closer and scooped the girl into his arms.  She sighed softly and wrapped her arms around his neck, still asleep.  He leaned over and shook Fenrir who lifted his head as Loki stood up, Hela still curled up in his arms.  Fenrir’s great yellow eyes bore into his father and a low growl burned in his throat as he rose to his feet.

“Come, Fenrir.”  Loki commanded, hefting Hela in his arms to show his son what the consequences could, so easily, be. 

Fenrir followed silently and they walked out of the palace and toward the Bifrost.  Hela continued to sleep until they stepped outside and the cool breeze woke her.

She looked up at Loki and realized her father was holding her like he did when she was small.  Fenrir saw the look in her eyes and knew what she was about to say before she said it.

“Daddy?”  Loki looked down and his eyes were cold but Fenrir knew Hela would only see warmth.  She smiled and he placed her on the ground, taking her hand in one of his.  Fenrir felt his heart breaking for a little girl who was about to feel true heartbreak for the first time.

They walked to the end of the Bifrost to where Thor and Heimdall stood, tall and silent.

“Daddy,” Hela said, “what’s going on?”  She looked at Fenrir, the familiar fear returning to her eyes and her brother shook his head.

“Fenrir Lokison, step forward.”  Thor commanded and Fenrir lifted his head high and marched forward, determined to meet his punishment with grace and pride.  “You will be banished to the Aesir and you will never return to Asgard.  Do you have any final words?”  Fenrir nodded and looked back at Hela, who still held their father’s hand and still did not understand.

“Hela, I love you very very very very much.  No matter how far away I am from you, that will never change.”  Hela looked at Loki who stared straight ahead.  “Father, tell my mother I love her, if you ever get the chance.  You owe me this.”  Fenrir looked up at Thor.  “And, Uncle, I will see you at Ragnorak.”  Heimdall lifted his staff and crashed it into the ground and Fenrir disappeared.

“Fenrir!”  Hela let go of her father’s hand and leapt forward just as her brother disappeared from the Bifrost.  “Send me with him.”  She begged and Thor shook his head.

“Hela Lokison, you are banished to Heimdall where you will be queen of the dead and only the dead shall ever comfort you.  Do you have any last words?”

“No.”  Hela said, shaking her head and willing herself not to cry.  Heimdall crashed his staff into the ground once more and the next things she knew were the souls of a billion dead Midgardians and their screams of torment as they suffered for their sins.


	4. Love

“Next!”  Thor shouted tiredly from his throne.  He had dedicated this day to hearing the complaints and concerns of his people.  So far it was simple things, cured with a wave of his hand.  A need for rain or food or sun or tools.  He was happy so serve but, after three thousand Asgardians had listed their complaints, he was exhausted.

A figure stepped forward from the crowd holding a staff.  A dark hood covered its face but the prince could see armor and where the cape parted.

“State your concern.”

“A lifetime of unearned punishment.”  A low growl issued from the shadow cast by the hood.

“State you name and remove your hood in my presence.”

“Hela Lokison.”  She said as she swept off her hood and revealed her black and white face.  She glared at Thor and his mouth hardened.

“You were banished from Asgard, Hela.  Return to Helheim, now.”

“I came to pay my respects to my grandmother and grandfather and to visit my imprisoned father.”

“You have no place among us.”  Narvi growled suddenly as he stepped toward her from his place with the court.

“Go back to your monsters and freaks.”  Vali snarled joining his brother.  They stepped closer but she didn’t back down.  All three of them were grown now.  Vali and Narvi had developed strong muscles and broad shoulders from their mother while Hela was still slight, though taller, with her father’s sharp features.

“Leave Asgard, Hela.”  Thor commanded.  “Or I will let them hurt you.”  Vali and Narvi stepped closer to her and she glanced at them sideways before looking back at Thor.

“Let them try.”

Vali and Narvi leapt at her and she disappeared, reappearing instantly behind them.  Her staff collided with each of their heads before they had a chance to turn around and they fell to the floor, unconscious.

“Now,” Hela said, turning from her half-brothers to her uncle, “I would like to see my father.”

“I will not be ordered around by my brother’s child!” Thor shouted standing up and Hela glared up at him defiantly.

“Thanks to you, I am no longer a child.  I am a queen.  I am a supreme ruler.”

“A supreme ruler of monsters.”

“I could say the same of you.”  Hela shook her head.  “I do not wish for war, uncle.  I do not ask for my brothers’ freedom or an end to my banishment.  I have never asked you for anything and I will never ask for anything again, if you grant me this.”

“You know Loki does not care for you and neither do I.”

“I know.  And you know the devotion one has for one’s father, regardless of his actions.  Did you love Odin any less at any of his crimes?  Or did you defend his actions?”  Thor was silent.  “I love my father, just as you loved yours.  Give me a chance to tell him so before I lose him as you lost Odin.”  Thor softened and sat back down.

“Fine, I will take you to your father… but you will return to Helheim as soon as you are done speaking to him.”  Hela nodded furiously as Thor stepped down from his throne.  “Come.”

 

Hela followed Thor quietly, eyes fixed on the ground, as they walked slowly toward the prison.

“Tell me why you want to see him.”  Thor asked kindly.

“He’s my father.  His parents are dead and he has no one to comfort him.”

“Vali and Narvi.”

“They don’t care.”

“And you do?”

“Yes.”

“Loki doesn’t.”

“I know.”  Hela said sharply, she looked up at him with mismatched eyes.  The one on the black side of her face was clear white and the one on the white side of her face was completely black.  “I know he doesn’t care and he doesn’t love me in any sense of the word.  He didn’t love Jormungand or Fenrir.  He doesn’t love Sleipnir or any of the others.  He didn’t love our mothers.”

“Hela…”

“And I know he can’t grow to love us.  Nothing we do will ever win his love.  His love he saves for Sigyn and Frigga and you.  He’s proud of Narvi and Vali but he doesn’t love them as fathers are supposed to love their children.”

“I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be, uncle.  He didn’t love us so we learned to love each other all the more.  Sleipnir, Jormungand, Fenrir, even Eisa and Einmyria, and me, we loved each other because no one else did.”

“You miss them?  Your brothers and sisters?”

“Yes, every day.  There’s something I wish I had said to Fenrir, that day we were banished.”

“What?”

“I wish I had said: I love you…”  They were quiet as they walked.

“I’m sorry but we had to banish you.”

“I know about the prophecy.”  Hela said softly.  “I know that Jormungand will kill you one day and that Fenrir and I are destined to help him.  Fenrir and I will live, you and Jormungand will die.”  She looked up at him.  “I don’t want to kill you, Thor.  I’m not angry about my banishment and I don’t hate you.  I don’t think I ever could.”

“It is written.”  Thor said.

“But it has not happened yet.  Let’s enjoy the time we have before our destinies come together.  The end will come someday but it is not today.”

“You’ve grown up in ways your father and I never did.”  Thor said, placing a hand on her shoulder.  “I’m very proud of you.”

Hela understood that what he really meant to say was: “I love you.”

Thor opened a large black door at the end of the hall and stepped into the prison. 

Loki stood behind a glass wall, pacing calmly.  He looked curiously at his daughter and she looked at the ground respectfully and waited for Thor to leave.

“Brother, may I have a few moments alone with my daughter?”  Loki asked and Thor nodded slowly, patting Hela’s shoulder as he left.  “Why are you here?”  He asked and he pitied this creature he had created.  She looked up at him, her eyes as cold as his the day he’d banished her.

“I don’t know.”  She admitted.  “I only know that I had to.  I had to see you.”

“It’s been thousands of years-”

“Thirteen thousand eight hundred and forty six Midgardian years next month.”

“Nearly fourteen thousand years pass by and now you want to see me?  The man who banished you and your brothers?”

“I wanted to see my father.  I’m wondering if he’s even here.”  Loki smirked.

“I remember the day we sent you and Fenrir off.”  He sneered.  “You called me ‘daddy’ and right then I knew that my sons were right about you.  You were a monster, a freak.”  Hela didn’t falter.

“Oh, it was genetic.”  She said coolly and Loki’s smirk hardened on his lips.

“Did you come here to win me over?”  He asked.  “To try to win my heart for you and a few of your brothers?”

“No.  I can’t win what does not exist.”  She said.  “Maybe that’s why I’m here.”

“What?  To tell me I’m a heartless old bastard?”

“No, to tell myself that.  To remind myself that this isn’t you.  You are not magnificent.”  She waved her hand and the glass shimmered for a moment before Loki faded and reappeared on the floor.  His hair was wild and dirty, his clothes had rips, faded patches, and stains of blood.  Hela crouched by the glass and looked directly into his eyes.

“It has been nearly fourteen thousand years since I last saw you and your outside finally reflects your inside.  You were never glorious and you never will be.”  She stood and turned to leave.

“How long have you been learning my tricks?”  She turned back to him.

“Ever since Vali and Narvi started beating up on Fenrir and me, I was never strong enough without magic.”

“That’s my little girl.”  Loki said as she walked and she stopped but didn’t look at him.

“I’m not your little girl.  I never was.”  She opened the door and left quietly.  Loki’s smile dropped into the pit of his stomach.

 

Thor found Hela in his parents’ temple, praying beside their shared casket.  She stood when he entered and bowed to him.

“I’ll go home now.  I’ve said all I wish to say.”

“Helheim is home to you?”

“I’ve spent nearly fourteen thousand years there.  I’m a queen.  My servants will be missing me by now.”  She stepped past him and started to leave.

“Hela?”  She turned back expectantly.  “Loki loves you…and Fenrir and Jormungand.  He loves all his children.”

“Loki loves _you_ , uncle, and Sigyn.  I believe he is utterly indifferent to my existence and the existence of every half and whole sibling I have.  The only person he truly hates is himself.”

“You’re wise for one so young.”

“I like to think so.”  Hela turned and disappeared from the room.  Thor went to the window and saw her appear on the Bifrost before Heimdall.  She nodded and he brought his staff down.

In an instant, she was gone.


End file.
